Maraya Brown, Founder of Beyond The Red Tent, Certified Nurse Midwife, and Women's Health Coach is this week's guest on The Changed Podcast

Just in time for Mother's day, I am sharing this conversation with Maraya Brown. In Maraya's words as a health coach, and Nurse Midwife, she doesn't just help women birth babies, she helps women birth themselves.

Make no mistake about it, she also has birthed many babies, including three beautiful children of her own. But the work that she does goes well beyond the birth process, creating safe spaces for women to explore all phases and stages of the female experience including birth, hormonal changes, pregnancy, miscarriage menopause, and more.

As a woman, she has experienced many shifts in her own right, from being a carefree, adventurous, risk-taking young person, to the mid-life, scheduled owner of three businesses that she is now.

Reflecting back on experiences that have changed her lens on herself on the world brought her to not one, but two stories. One from being bold, being brave, and surviving the Almeda fires in the Fall of 2020, and one from the sudden loss and grief of having her expectations for her future shattered in an instant with the loss of job and home along with the miscarriage of her first pregnancy in one fateful adventure.

Takeaways from this episode

• As a parent, kids can serve as a reflection to us of how the experience of change, and making decisions look. When we're appalled by how bonkers they are, we can remember that we are familiar with their experiences, decision fatigue notwithstanding, and allow that empathy guide how we empathize with and teach them.
• The feeling of being burned by past experience leaves very real scars. Having these scars doesn't mean that we stop taking risks, or that we must leave off fully embracing life. Instead, they serve to make us more aware. Blindly jumping may go by the wayside, but we can still jump.
• Taboo topics in the lives of women like miscarriage, menopause, sexuality, and anatomy need safe spaces to be aired. Women can learn from each other's stories and teach each other what they know.
• On a personal note, I wish that sharing my own experiences through pregnancy and miscarriage didn't feel like a raw nerve. I am deeply grateful for the women who so bravely shared theirs so that I did not have to feel so all alone in processing my loss.

Links, Resources, and Mentions

Maraya wrote a thorough telling of her journey through miscarriage. You can read that here.

If you're a woman who is feeling ready to move from exhausted to energized, balance your hormones, and feel turned on by your life, your lover, and yourself, then click here to see if Maraya is just the person to help you make that happen, or better yet register for her free workshop that starts on May 24th (maybe I'll even see you there!).

Books and Resources Maraya Brown is consuming and maybe you want to enjoy too!

• Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas
• Chillpreneur also by Denise Duffield-Thomas